Get Out Of My Way
by In A Rush
Summary: This is another story of mine. You will have to read to find out how it will play out. Members of the team will be tested in different ways, have their lives put in danger, friendships and romances will be tested.
1. Chapter 1

Get Out Of My Way.

"So you and Josh are over now are you?" Lawson asks as Shannon is once again early for her shift.

"What makes you say that?" Shannon asks.

"Because before you could tell something was going on and now your at work early and you've only left with him once in the past month." He replies.

"Yeah it was just a casual thing, provided the both of us the distractions that we needed, but I need more than what he can give me and he needs more than what I can give him, but we are still good mates though." She replies with a smile.

"I'm glad to see that you two are still friends and this hasn't affected your work, but how come you don't drive your car at the moment?" Lawson asks.

"It's complicated." Shannon says not meeting his eyes.

"Is it money?" He asks concerned.

"God No, I got most of my life sorted out now, it's not money." She says.

"Then what is it, I can tell there is something your not telling me." Lawson says accusingly.

"Ummm, well it's nothing important, just don't worry about me, I can look after myself." She says as the team starts arriving.

"Hey Shannon can I talk to you for a quick minute before you head out." Kerry says popping her head into the change rooms.

"Yeah be there in a minute." Shannon replies.

"Everything okay?" Josh asks once Kerry has left.

"Yep." Shannon replies walking out to find Kerry.

"Ah good Shannon, so you need to give Leon all the information he needs so we can deal with this matter efficiently." Kerry says leading her over to Leon.

"We have to keep this between the three of us." Shannon says while sitting down next to Leon.

"You sure that's wise, the others should be told." Kerry says.

"No, you have seen how they can react to things like this, especially Josh and Lawson and we really don't need that right now." Shannon says.,

"She's right Kerry; we need to keep this under wraps for now till we know exactly what we are dealing with exactly." Leon says while typing on the computer.  
"Point taken, what do you need to know?" Kerry asks Leon.

"Well Shannon, when was the last time you spoke to him, and I need his full name." Leon says.

"Ummm about five years ago was the last time I heard or saw of him, his name is Geoffrey Alex Henry." Shannon says and he starts to type it all in.

"Okay so it says here that his been in court before for violent behavior, geez I'm surprised he didn't cop anything, a couple of drink driving charges, otherwise it's pretty much a clean record." Leon says.

"Yeah what else do you need on top of that?" Shannon asks.

"Well I have all I need right here on his records at the moment, but how long have you noticed it going on?" He asks.

"On and off for the past month, it's becoming more frequent though." She says.

"Hmmmm." Leon says entering it in.

"Anything else?" She asks.

"Not for now, but you'll need to grab some stuff from your place to last you for a while, but I will send someone from here who can be trusted to keep it quiet to grab some stuff so he can't follow you, you can't stay there, you can stay at mine and we can change it up with Kerry's as well." Leon says.

"His right, it's for your own safety." Kerry says knowing Shannon is about to argue.

"What's this about Shannon's safety?" Christian asks followed by Josh and Lawson.

"Shit, it's nothing okay, how much of that conversation did you hear anyway?" She asks.

"Enough to know your in some kind of danger." Christian says.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lawson asks.

"We can protect you." Josh says angrily.

"God would you all get off it already, I didn't want you guys doing anything stupid because you were pissed off, it's nothing, it's being dealt with." Shannon says sternly.

"Your staying with me, it's safer then Leon's." Josh says forcefully.

"No offence taken over here." Leon says.

"Or you can stay with me." Lawson says.

"Or with me and Sam." Christian says.

"How about I do what I want, and stay with Leon while you guys live your life, I don't need any bodyguards or baby sitters, I can protect myself." She says heading towards the door.

"Shannon." Josh, Lawson and Christian yell out.

"God I hate being the only girl on the team right now, just give it a rest, we have work to do." She says before leaving the room.

"Just do as she says, you do have work to do, people that need your help more than Shannon does right now, so move your backsides now before I do it for you." Kerry says with a look that tells them not to argue.

All groaning in frustration they all leave to follow Shannon to the cars and find her already sitting in the backseat of TR2 with Michael sitting in the driver's seat talking to her while drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel and they see they are both laughing at something one of them has said.

"Josh, keep and eye on her okay." Lawson murmurs.

"Already ahead of you on that one." Josh says before heading to the car and getting into the passenger's seat.


	2. Chapter 2

After a long and tiring day of being constantly questioned and watched by Michael and Josh, Shannon was more than relieved to be pulling back up into base.

As soon as Michael had parked the car, Shannon got out and slammed the door and opened the boot in a great rush in order to unpack the car and get away from all the nagging.

"Hey slow down there Shannon, or we won't have anything to put away." Josh says getting out.

"And since when do you complain when you don't have to unpack it?" Shannon asks.

Not having an appropriate response in mind, Josh merely stares at her.

"That's what I thought. Now that the car is unpacked I'm going for a shower where I can actually get some peace and quiet for a few minutes and away from your watchful eyes, god you would think I'm going to break down or something." Shannon says before storming off.

Just as they were about to walk to the change rooms, TR1 pulls up.

"Hey where's Shannon?" Lawson asks Josh.

"She stormed off to have a shower; she is in a bad mood with us." Josh says.

"Yeah she called us overbearing and protective assholes at one stage." Michael says.

"But otherwise she is okay?" Lawson asks.

"Yeah, but don't ask her that unless you're prepared to get your head bitten off." Josh says.

"Maybe Leon can consult his menstrual chart for us." Michael says as they head off to get dressed.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure Kerry made him throw it out, and now his not with Nina he doesn't have much use for one." Josh says and all the boys start laughing.

Heading into the Intel office to see if Leon was almost ready, Shannon plonked herself down in a chair at a desk and sighed.

"Long day?" Leon asks while turning off his computer.

"Understatement." She replies.

"Let me guess the guys kept bugging you." Leon says packing his bag.

"Yeah, you'd think I wasn't a cop, the way they talk about me being in danger." She says.

"Wanna grab a drink?" He asks.

"Got any grog at your place instead?" She asks.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't ask me that." Leon asks while helping her up.

"See ya later Kerry." They yell out as they walk past her office.

"See ya guys, have fun." Kerry says smiling.

A little while later, Shannon and Leon are his place doing some tequila shots for the game I never while learning a bit more about each other and Shannon forgot her worries.

After finishing up their game and eating some pizza while watching a movie on the television they hear movement outside the front door.

"Did you hear that?" Leon asks.

"Yeah I did, it's probably just a cat." She says just as they heard a thump and a barely audible muttered curse.

"I wouldn't call that a cat, unless cats can talk." Leon says and Shannon nudges him while saying "shh."

"Did you bring your gun?" Leon whispers.

"No, you know Kerry doesn't like us taking them home unless it's really necessary." She whispers while they listen out.

"Well I would call this necessary, wouldn't you?" He asks.

"Shh, I think they are moving to the back." She whispers.

"Shit, what are we going to do?" Leon asks.

"Do you own any kitchen knives; you don't live on take out right?" Shannon says crawling to the kitchen so she wouldn't cause a shadow through the curtains.

"I won't answer that last part, but I do own a couple of knives, just in this draw." He says while pulling it open.

"This one will do, now stay behind me." She says as they stand next to the door.

Holding up her fingers she signals one, two, and three and opens the door holding the knife out in front of her and swearing.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS." She yells.

"Sorry, sorry." Christian says while Josh starts laughing behind him.

"Well what's going on, did you guys want to get stabbed?" She asks outraged while Leon stands there clutching his chest and taking deep breaths to slow down his heart rate.

"We were just making sure you were okay." Josh says with a smirk on his face and Shannon stomped to the front door with them following her and opens it to see Lawson and Michael standing there stunned.

"Well, well it's the whole gang, just missing Dom, so where is he hiding?" She asks looking around.

"He stayed at home and said you could fight your own battles, if you wanted help you would ask for it, and he values his life too much to cross you and get murdered for it." Lawson says.

"Chicken shit." Christian muttered.

"Stella was going to join us but she got called to do a job, she's working tonight and was going to come on her break." Michael says.

"Thanks for giving me a heart attack." Leon says.

"You guys better go before I do stab one of you, I'M SO PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW." Shannon says.

"You better go guys, prepare for tomorrow, I'm sure Kerry will catch wind of this, so you better start digging." Leon says while pushing Shannon away from them.

"Digging what exactly?" Michael asks.

"Your own graves, coz once Kerry and Shannon are done with you that's where you will be." Leon says.

"Yep, okay we better go, let you get some sleep." Josh says seeing Shannon getting angrier.

"See ya later you idiots." Leon says before shutting the door.

Turning to face Shannon, Leon says "Another drink?"

"Another two more like it." She says.

"Let put the knife away then we will drink up." Leon says and leads her to the kitchen


	3. Chapter 3

Storming down the hallway of base from her office when she hears laughter coming from the change rooms, Kerry is in a unimpressed mood.

"Dom, go and find something to do, I need to talk to the four stooges." Kerry says pointing him out.

"Yep, can do Kerry." Dom says smirking as he goes to walk off.

"And wipe that stupid smirk of your face." Kerry yells out to his back.

"What were you idiots thinking last night, were you hoping that you would get stabbed, seriously in the whole time I have known you, you go and pull a stunt like that, well one of you better speak up, actually Lawson since your meant to be the team's leader you can speak on behalf of you lot." Kerry says crossing her arms and waiting for a explanation.

"I guess Shannon told you then." Lawson says.

"No she didn't tell me, I could tell something had happened by the way she was slamming things around and cursing you lot, Leon filled me in on all the details." She says.

"Oh right." Lawson says.

"Well you are going to explain yourselves." Kerry says her anger rising at the fact Lawson is avoiding the question.

"Well, we wanted to check that she was safe, I mean it's not like Leon can protect himself let alone her, so we all decided to go and make sure she was alright, check if there was anything or anyone out of the ordinary in the area, and well she caught us, it was for her own safety." Lawson says.

"Uh Huh, right, and you didn't think you would get caught and the fact she could protect herself, did you not think that she could actually hurt you." Kerry says.

"Well we didn't think that far ahead." Lawson says.

"Yeah well I can see that, you're a bunch of friggen idiots, I would wipe those smiles off your face right now and stop laughing, before you cop any worse punishments then what I'm about to give you." Kerry says which instantly stopped Josh, Michael and Christian from laughing.

"Why the hell are we getting punishments for?" Josh asks.

"Because you all need to learn a lesson, I'm sick of having to deal with a bunch of kids, your meant to be this elite squad and you go and pull a stunt like that, did you stop to think that maybe you were followed and you ended up putting her in more danger?" Kerry asks.

"We didn't think of that." Michael says looking at the others.

"No you didn't think, you just went ahead and did it, lucky for you so far it looks like you weren't followed, if she was in any danger while staying at Leon's she would give one of us a call, so no more snooping around, you got it?" She asks.

"Got it." They replied.

"Good, now for the next two weeks you will all be doing some tidying up of our filing system, followed by tidying up the storeroom and getting this place nice and tidy, just the way I like things." Kerry says.

"Oh that's not fair." Michael says.

"Nothing in life is fair Michael, if you want to complain, you guys could always give the toilets a good scrub out." Kerry says challengely.

"Michael you better shut your mouth." Christian mumbles.

"Good, now that all that is sorted I want you guys out on the road and you better apologize properly to Shannon and Leon, preferably as soon as possible." Kerry says before walking out.

"Hey Shannon, how are you?" Dom asks approaching TR2.

"Yeah, could be better, what about you?" She asks while they pack the car.

"Yeah I'm really good, had a good night in with G and Sandrine, so I take it you caught the boys taking a look around last night?" Dom asks.

"Yeah, the bloody idiots, I almost stabbed them and poor Leon almost had a heart attack." Shannon says.

"Glad I knew better and stayed at home, I learnt my lesson in the past." Dom says.

"Yeah well I'm glad at least you did, and now I have to put up with them constantly being over bearing." Shannon says while Dom closes the boot.

"Yeah well at least your with me and Josh today, that's not too bad is it?" Dom asks leaning against the driver's car door.

"Yeah, it's slightly better than Lawson I guess." Shannon says.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, Kerry is most likely ripping through their heads right now, she was really peeved off, and she kicked me out of the change room and everything." Dom says.

"Leon must have filled her in." Shannon says.

"He must have, come on lets hop in, the boys don't look too happy, I guess Kerry gave them a punishment of some form." Dom says noting the looks of defeat on the guy's faces.


	4. Chapter 4

"So what are your punishments?" Dom asks as he starts to drive around the streets of the CBD.

"Just some tidying up of base, got threatened with cleaning the toilets if we complained, copped a ear bashing too, all because Leon had to open his mouth." Josh says.

"Yeah well maybe you will now learn your lesson, next time you won't be so lucky, I will end up stabbing you, or worse blow your heads off if I take my gun with me, and you're a bunch of idiots, as if I couldn't protect myself." Shannon says angrily.

"Yeah well we realize that now don't we, I don't need another lecture from you, I'm still trying to get my hearing back from Kerry having a go at us." Josh says and Dom starts to laugh.

"And that's one of the main reasons I stayed home, did you manage to convince Stella to come?" Dom asks.

"No, but she was disappointed she missed out on seeing Shannon's reaction, Michael filled her in and she called me to confirm it, she had a job she got called for." Josh says.

"Yeah well no visits today okay." Shannon says and Josh nods his head in agreement as she gets a sms from Lawson.

_I am really sorry about last night, can you please stay with me until we know what's going on, just for my own peace of mind. Lawson x_

_I can't Lawson, he knows where you live, otherwise I would, don't worry about me, you know I will be fine. Shannon x_

Lawson lets out a sigh when he sees her reply and tries to think of another way to make sure she is safe.

As he stares out the window it hit's him and he rings Leon.

"Who is messaging you Shannon?" Dom asks.

"Just Lawson, being Lawson as per usual." Shannon says.

"Yeah, what's new?" Dom says and they all start laughing.

"Hey TR2, can you please head to the Epworth Hospital, apparently they need some help in calming down a patient." Leon says.

"Can't security deal with it?" Josh asks.

"Not really, you know how security can be at hospitals." Leon says.

"I don't see why they bother having security when they constantly need police assistant." Dom says.

"Well sometimes situations can get a little bit out of their control; it's not their fault if they aren't trained to deal with certain situations." Shannon says as they pull up at the hospital.

A little while later after dealing with the patient that had managed to get a syringe full of strong sedatives that was threating staff; Shannon, Josh and Dom start to head back to the car when all of a sudden Shannon stops in her tracks.

"Shannon." Her dad says.

"What the hell are you doing, you need to stop this right now." Shannon says.

"I'm not doing anything though; I'm just sitting here minding my own business." Her dad says.

"Minding your own business, what the hell do you want from me?" Shannon asks.

"Why would you think I want something from you?" He asks.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you watching me and following me." Shannon says.

"I think your confusing me with someone else." He says.

"Just stop it okay, whatever you want from me you can just piss off, you can't hurt me anymore, not like you used to, I can protect myself now." Shannon says.

"Okay then." Her dad says clearly not fazed with what she is saying.

Letting out a frustrated groan she storms off while Dom and Josh stare at her father before following after her while Josh gets out his phone and calls Kerry to inform her on the latest development.

"Thanks Josh, yep, I will let Lawson know once I update Leon on this." Kerry says hanging up the phone.

"Shannon's father was at the Epworth, check to see if you can gain his medical files, I want to know if it's coincidence or something more sinister." Kerry says.

"You know I'm not meant to access those, it's illegal for me to do it." Leon says.

"Geez Leon, I will look the other way shall I, if it makes you feel better, I don't care what you do and how you do it, get me those files." Kerry says before getting on the phone to Lawson.

After finishing the rest of their shift and unpacking the car at base, Shannon heads to the showers to try and relax.

"How is she?" Lawson asks Josh as he enters the change rooms.

"A bit shaken up, I wanted to the punch the bloke, he didn't even have any remorse or seem to care what she was saying; it's like a big game to him." Josh says.

"Yeah he wasn't around much but he used to physically abuse her as a kid, she never talked about it, I met her mum once and she filled me in on what she knew, but because Shannon kept to herself as a kid as she was scared she never had the proof so he could be put on jail for it." Lawson says.

"That son of a bitch." Josh says.

"See the justice system is so screwed up, to let a father get away with that, a parent is meant to protect their child, not abuse them." Dom says.

"I'm staying at Leon's tonight to make sure she is safe and okay, she is going to struggle to deal with this, she looks like she is okay, but she isn't." Lawson says before heading to the Intel office with his stuff.

"You ready to go?" Lawson asks Shannon as she enters the office and Leon gets up.

"I told you, I can't stay with you Lawson." Shannon says sadly.

"I'm staying at Leon's with you." Lawson says.

"Really?" She asks.

"Yeah, I need to know your okay." He says pulling her into a hug and resting his head on top of hers and he feels her relax in his arms straight away.

"Come on; let's get you out of here." Lawson says placing his arm around her waist and leading her to Leon's car.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews everyone. It's great to see you seem to enjoy this. I can try to make it a bit more longer and a bit more action/ drama but hey no promises

….

Waking up the next morning and seeing that Lawson was sleeping on the floor she had to bite back the laughter that was bound to come out at the sight of him.

Getting out of the bed quietly so she didn't wake him up, Shannon stretched out and headed out of the room.

Heading towards the kitchen Shannon went and made herself a coffee before she went to drink it in front of the TV. But she stopped short of the lounge room as she noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor that had been placed under the door. Curious as to see what it was thinking it was for Leon she placed her coffee down before bending down to pick it up.

Reading it she let out a gasp and stood there staring at it.

"Hey Shannon, what's that you got in your hands?" Lawson asked walking up to her.

Still to shocked to speak, Shannon had a blank look on her face.

"Shannon, what's wrong, what is it?" Lawson asks her and she just hands him the letter.

"What the fuck, has he lost his fucking mind; we need to put a stop to this Shannon." Lawson yells and she takes a step back in fright.

Hearing Lawson yelling, Leon rushed out of his bedroom and said "Calm down will you Lawson, you scaring the crap out of her, what's going on?"

"This is what's going on." Lawson says angrily shoving the letter under Leon's nose.

Reading the letter, Leon puts it in a bag and says "I'm keeping it for evidence, don't worry Shannon, we will get a restraining order put out on him okay, his not going to come anywhere near you or harm you, isn't that right Lawson?" Leon says glaring at Lawson to give him the hint that Shannon needs some reassurance.

"Yeah, Leon's right, your safe with us, you won't ever be alone okay." Lawson says pulling her into a hug and rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"I'm just going to call Kerry, won't be long." Leon says.

"Your going to be okay Shannon, I swear I won't ever let him hurt you okay, his going to stop following you, your staying somewhere else tonight, Leon's isn't safe anymore, I will speak to the team today okay." Lawson says.

"Stella's." Shannon mutters into his chest.

"You want to stay at Stella's?" He asks her.

"Yeah, I mean it's safer, she doesn't work with us so he probably isn't staking out her place, depends if she is okay with it." Shannon says pulling away.

"I will call her once we get to base okay, everything will be okay." Lawson says resting her forehead against hers and trying to reassure himself.

"I better get ready for work." She says.

"Yeah, you don't have to come out on the road today; you can stay at base with Kerry and Leon." Lawson says.

"Nah I rather keep my mind busy so I will be with you okay." Shannon says before heading to the room to get changed and grab her stuff for Stella's.

Once they had gotten to base the three of them were greeted by Kerry standing in the car park waiting for them.

"How are you Shannon?" Kerry asks as they all walk into base.

"I will be okay." Shannon says.

"Well I already have some staff working on this, a restraining order has been filed, I'm trying to get it approved quicker, Leon isn't too far off from gaining access to the medical files either so we should start getting some answers soon, where are you staying now?" Kerry asks as they all sit down.

"I was about to call Stella and ask her." Lawson says just as the rest of the team walk in.

"Already did that Lawson, it made more sense for her to stay there, less chances he will follow her there on the first night, his probably staking out Leon's, Stella is cool with it, she's aware you will be staying as well, I figured wherever Shannon went you would or have one of us with her." Michael says.

"Thanks Michael." Shannon says while Lawson nods his head at Michaels statement.

"Kerry called us in early to bring us up to speed on this." Josh says.

"You didn't have to do that Kerry." Shannon says.

"They wanted to be kept informed especially after the hospital yesterday." Kerry says.

"well I'm going to get changed into my gear and call Stella, go over things with her." Shannon says getting up.

"Alright, debrief is in 15 minutes Shannon so just keep that in mind okay." Kerry says in a soft tone.

"I will be 10 minutes tops." Shannon says walking out.

"So how is she really?" Christian asks.

"A bit shaken up which is to be expected but otherwise she seems to be doing okay." Lawson says.

"How serious do you think he was when he wrote that he would be coming back after her?" Michael asks.

"Pretty serious, like I said yesterday I don't know that much about him but when it is to do with Shannon his serious." Lawson says.

"His a sick bastard, a sick twisted bastard, Shannon doesn't deserve this, nobody deserves to have a father who treats them that way." Dom says.

"Yeah well keep those comments to yourself; she doesn't need a constant reminder about this." Josh says before getting up to get ready.

"His right, let's just not bring it up and go get ready yeah." Christian says also getting up and one by one they head to the change rooms.

"Stella is picking us up from here at the shift and we have a plan worked out." Shannon says.

"What's the plan?" Lawson asks.

"You will find out when she picks us up tonight." Shannon says.

"If you say so." Lawson says laughing at her.

"Oh crap I left something in Leon's car; I will be back in a minute." Shannon says and heads towards the Intel office.

"Hey Leon chuck us your keys, I left something in your car." Shannon says.

"Think fast." He says throwing them at her which she catches.

"Awesome catch." He says.

"Thanks." Shannon says with a smile over her shoulder as she walks out.

Heading out to the car park Shannon doesn't see her father who is standing next to the entrance.

"I told you I would come back for you." Her dad says.

"You need to leave." Shannon says cursing herself mentally for not putting on her gun belt before she left.

"Either you come with me quietly or I hurt you." Her dad says.

"I would never leave with you." Shannon says.

"I'm giving you one more chance Shannon, now what is your answer, think about this." Her dad says.

"NO." She yells at him and he walks up to her and knocks her over the head with a hammer.

"Where is Shannon, she said she would be on time for this debrief." Kerry says.

"She went to my car, about 5 minutes ago." Leon says.

"I'm going out there." Lawson says.

"I'm coming with you." Josh and Christian say getting up.

"I said you would hurt you and now I will." Her dad says laying it into her a couple of times before starting to drag her away from base.

"Get your hands off her." Lawson says aiming his gun at her dad with Josh following suit.

"Oh no, look out you have me surrounded." Her dad said dropping her and put his hands up in mock surrender before turning around to run and Christian pelted down the road after him.

"Check on Shannon, we got this." Josh says before running after Christian.

"I'm so sorry Shannon, what did he do to you?" Lawson says to her unconscious form.

"Leon, we need ambos to base, Shannon has been assaulted, Lawson is with her, we are currently chasing her dad, and we may need someone in the car to help with pursuit." Josh says into his coms.

"Copy that Josh, where are you?" Leon asks while both Dom and Michael run to the car.


	6. Chapter 6

Because I won't update for a couple of days, I'm leaving you a special treat, so I hope you enjoy

….

"What the hell happened Lawson?" Kerry asks running outside to wear Lawson had Shannon's head in his lap with him stroking the hair off hair face.

"I don't know, we found him beating her while she was unconscious, he left the hammer behind, I presume he knocked her over with it." He says.

"Has she come round at all?" Kerry asks.

"Nope." Lawson says looking in the direction of sirens from the ambulance as Dom and Michael drive out.

"Leon, where is the car?" Josh yells into his coms, Christian has been on Geoffrey's tail the whole time but hasn't managed to tackle him and Josh is starting to wear out.

"You should see them approaching any minute now Josh, so keep your pants on." Leon says.

All of a sudden the car speeds down past them and blocks Geoffrey's way, as he goes to turn down the other street Christian flies at him and tackles him to the ground and Geoffrey puts up a fight.

"Got ya you arsehole." Christian says putting all of his body weight on him while Michael cuffs him.

As Michael pulls him up with Christian and before anyone can stop it, Dom punches him in the gut and says "I hope you rot away in a prison cell for the rest of your life, you deserve everything you get, scum like you never learn." And Josh has to restrain Dom from belting him again even though they all feel like doing the same thing they know they have to stick to the rules while on duty especially now that people were trying to see what was going on from afar.

"Okay so what do we have?" The paramedic asks as they put down their bags.

"She has been repeatedly beaten and we presume she got hit over the head with a hammer, there's some blood on her head, and she hasn't gained consciousness in the past 10 minutes or so." Lawson says and they start to look her over and hook her up to an IV.

"Alright we need to take her to hospital." The paramedic says as the other one gets the stretcher.

"Is she going to be okay?" Kerry asks.

"I can't guarantee for certain but she should recover from this, but depending on the extent of her injuries anything could happen, the head wound is our main concern." The paramedic says loading her into the back and hopping in.

"You're more than welcome to follow us." The other one says as TR1 pulls up and they all get out of the car.

"Josh, drive Lawson to the hospital, follow the ambulance, keep me posted, I will be there soon once I deal with this bastard." Kerry says before walking away.

"Come on Lawson, she is in safe hands now." Josh says steering him towards the car.

Arriving at the hospital they see the paramedics race her into the hospital.

"That can't be good." Lawson says getting out of the car.

"She will be fine, they are just doing their job okay, you're not helping things by stressing this much." Josh says.

"Yeah well you did with Grace." Lawson says.

"Yeah so I am talking from experience, it doesn't help, it just make things 10 times worse, and last thing we want is for you to be admitted because the stress takes its toll on you, and don't even start to blame yourself for this happening, imagine how much worse Shannon would feel then." Josh says following him into the hospital.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Lawson says.

"I am, now plonk your arse down while I get some information okay." Josh says and Lawson heads over to the chairs.

"Our friend was brought in can you update us on Shannon Henry?" Josh asks straight away at reception and the lady rolls her eyes before looking up and seeing that Josh was in his uniform and instantly she complied and had a sympathetic look on her face.

"Any news on Shannon?" Kerry asks walking in.

"Not yet, where are the others?" Leon asks.

"The four of them are in TR1, I can't do much else till we know what's going on, Josh is the only one who can keep Lawson on his leash, not even I will be able to control him at the moment, you know what his like." Kerry says.

"Hmmm, well what's happening with her dad?" Leon asks.

"Well his been pressed with charges and is in a cell till his hearing in a month's time from today." Kerry says.

"At least that's something…" Leon says before the phone rings.

After he puts the phone down, Leon turns and says "Shannon is in theatre, she has a bleed on the brain and she needs her spleen taken out."

"Shit, bring a computer and inform TR1 what's going on, we are going to the hospital, I want them to stay out on the road till their shift is over." Kerry says grabbing her stuff.

"Shannon Henry?" The doctor calls out in the waiting room 5 hours later.

"Yeah that's us." Kerry says.

"Okay she is intensive care at the moment, the next 48 hours is crucial, she should make a quick recovery, the surgery went well without any complications, but when she wakes up is up to her body, she will need to see a counselor once she wakes up, I will fill you in once I know more, you can see her now but I must stress only two at a time."

"Thank you." Kerry says and the doctor walks off.

"Lawson, Josh, you go in first, I need to call TR1." Kerry says.

"Oh that's great news Kerry, we are on our way." Dom says and Christian, Michael and Stella who turned up to base breathe a sigh of relief.

"She isn't out of the woods yet but we can go see her, she hasn't woken up yet." Dom says and they all head out to their cars to head to the hospital.


	7. Chapter 7

"Kerry how is she?" Stella asks immediately as soon as she spots Kerry in one of the chairs in the waiting room.

"So far so good, she isn't awake yet, we don't really know how long it will take for her to wake up as it's up to her body, but the next 48 hours are crucial to ensure she will be okay, but there weren't any complications in the surgery, it's just a matter of playing the waiting game now." Kerry says.

"I'm guessing Lawson and Josh are with her now then." Dom says.

"Yeah, Lawson was a nervous wreck, Josh is with him, just to make sure he is okay, Shannon won't be in the best state, she most likely has a lot of tubes attached to her." Kerry says while they all take a seat waiting for Lawson and Josh to come out so they can visit.

"She is going to be okay Lawson." Josh says placing a hand on his shoulder as Lawson is sitting in the chair next to Shannon's bed holding her hand.

"I hope so; I never got to tell her how I really feel about her, what if I don't get a chance to?" Lawson asks.

"Shannon is a smart girl, she has most likely already worked that out but wasn't sure how to broach the subject with you, and hey, she is going to wake up so you can tell her, you can't be negative about that, she needs us to be strong for her, especially when she wakes up, it's just about giving her some time." Josh says.

"Yeah I guess so." Lawson says sadly.

"If your that concerned let her know now, they say they can hear you even though it doesn't seem like it, she is just taking a long sleep, I will wait for you in the waiting room okay, the others would want to know how she is going and want to visit." Josh says before walking out.

Making sure that Josh wasn't in the room, Lawson pulls the chair in closer and whispers to her while stroking her hair "You need to pull through this Shannon, for me and the team, none of us could handle another loss of a team member, especially Josh and me okay because I know Josh is putting on a brave front for me and the team but I am pretty sure this is bringing up memories of Gracie, I really need you to be okay, I love you Shannon, I just want you to know that okay and I will be hear waiting for you." And with that he gets up from the chair and gives her a kiss on the forehead and says "I'll see you soon, the others want to see you." And he walks out of the room.

"Hey Josh, where is Lawson?" Michel asks.

"He just needed a minute with Shannon, his beating himself up about this." Josh says taking a seat next to Kerry.

"She looks okay?" Christian asks.

"I guess so, I mean she is attached to a lot of machines but all her cuts and bruises are pretty much covered in dressings." Josh says just as Lawson heads over to them.

"Who is going in next?" Lawson asks.

"I will go with Dom, and then Christian can go in with Leon followed by Stella and Michael." Kerry says before heading to Shannon's bed in the I.C.U.

"You should go home Lawson, get some rest, you know Kerry will still expect you out on the road, especially with you being the only trained negotiator at the moment while Shannon is in here." Josh says getting up.

"No I need to stay here with her, I told her I would, and she shouldn't be alone when she wakes up." Lawson says.

"There are plenty of nurses and doctors that will be in that room every minute of the day so they will call you if anything changes and Kerry and Leon will most likely stay here like they did with Gracie and Dom when they were in here, they can operate from here, she will be fine and by the sounds of it, Shannon won't be waking up tonight." Josh says.

"Fine but I need to say goodbye to her after everyone else sees her." Lawson says.

"Yeah of course." Josh says leading Lawson to a seat and making him sit down just as Kerry and Dom come back and Christian and Leon go.

"I gotta go now guys, Sandrine will need help with G, keep me posted." Dom says before heading out.

"I think I will follow his lead, I just need to go and do something, and will you be okay to get home Lawson?" Josh asks getting up.

"Yeah that's fine, thanks for today Josh." Lawson says.

"No worries, that's what mates are for." Josh says before heading out.

"I can take you home Lawson, I gotta take Michael anyway and then we can pick you up in the morning, just shoot me a sms." Stella says.

"Thanks Stell." Lawson says.

"Where are Josh and Dom?" Christian asks as they come out.

"Dom went home and Josh had to go somewhere." Kerry says.

"Oh okay, well Stella and Michael it's your turn." Christian says and Stella takes a deep breath before getting up and holding Michaels hand scared of seeing her best friend in a bad state.

"I'm right here with you Stell, we will do this together." Michael whispers to her outside the door of the room and as they enter Stella lets out a gasp.

Meanwhile Josh had left the hospital and had been sitting in his car for 10 minutes now in the street where he had stopped. Brushing away a tear that had escaped and taking a deep breath he got out of the car and started to make his way through to where he wanted to get.

Kneeling down he says "Hey Gracie, I know it's been a while since visits but I need some help and somewhere to clear my head, I don't know how to get us all through this." He says looking at her gravestone.

Next part should be up tomorrow. A more in depth conversation from Josh to Grace's gravestone and Stella and Michael talking to Shannon.

And of course everyone else.


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't know if I can do this Michael, she looks pretty bad." Stella says burying her head into his neck.

"You can Stell, just remember she is covered by a lot of bandages so she isn't as bad as she really is under all that, and the machines are all to help her, you know she would get a lot better if she knew you were here, sit down and hold her hand, talk to her, they say the more you talk to a patient in her condition the more likely they are to respond and wake up, and like I said I am here, I will be every step of the way okay." He says soothingly rubbing her back and leading her to the chair next to the bed and making her sit down in it.

Taking a deep breath while really taking in the sight of Shannon, Stella grabs her hand and holds it tightly.

"Do you mind giving me a few minutes with her?" Stella asks.

"Yeah sure." Michael says before bending down to Shannon's ear and whispering "Stella wants to talk to you, make you a deal, if you wake up then I will stop being so annoying during shifts so get better soon okay." And he gives her a kiss on the head before walking out.

"Hey Shannon, well your being a soft cock right now just lying there sleeping making us all worried for no reason, you know if it was me I would just suck it up and wake up already, but I guess that's what makes us different yeah, I thought you were just as tough as me and tougher then the boys, so how bout you open those eyes for me yeah." Stella says giving her hand a squeeze and hoping she would open her eyes. After waiting for a couple of minutes and seeing she was getting no reaction she lets out a sigh.

"Okay so clearly you know me too well and it didn't work, so I am just going to say this, please wake up soon okay, we are all struggling to process this and deal with it, I really need you to wake up and not just for Josh and Lawson who are taking this the hardest, and also not just for the team, but I need you to wake up for me okay, your my best friend, I never had that with Grace, you're like the older sister I never had, so please Shannon pull through for me, I don't think I could cope if you didn't okay." Stella says resting her head on the bed and starting to cry.

"Gracie, what am I going to do, Lawson is really struggling, he loves Shannon so much and he hasn't told her yet, kind of reminds me of how you and I were but we were obviously more complicated than them, I don't think I could handle another loss of a team member, none of us can, but I don't think I can cope, I know your probably thinking it's because of my history with Shannon, but after we ended things we still stayed close friends, well even better than that, she is like a sister to me and I can't protect her from this, I can't help her and I feel so helpless." Josh says staring at the grave.

"If you're listening to me Gracie and I am sure you are, can you try and put in a good word up there for Shannon so she can pull through, and if you see her up there while she hangs in the balance you tell her to fight okay, not to give up, I know I don't seem like the kind of guy who believes in all that stuff but I have changed, and I guess desperate times call for desperate measures." He says and sits there in silence for a few minutes.

"Well thanks for listening Gracie, I will try and stay strong for everyone and myself ok." Josh says giving a kiss to her gravestone before walking off to his car feeling slightly better for getting stuff of his chest.

"Hey Stella." Michael says walking into the room and finding Stella asleep on the bed.

Crouching down he softly taps Stella awake.

"Wake up sleepy head." Michael says.

"Sorry I must have dozed off accidently." She says rubbing the sleep from her eyes and looking at Shannon.

"We better go, we need to take Lawson home, you can see her tomorrow okay." Michael says.

"He must be worried that I took so long." Stella says getting up.

"Nah, I told him you wanted some time alone, he seemed okay." Michael says leading her away from the bed before they hear a monitor go off.

Turning around they see nurses already working on her and yelling for a doctor to be paged.

As soon as a doctor comes in they are forced outside the room.

"Oh god Michael, is she going to be okay?" Stella says crying.

"She will be fine; it's probably just a false alarm." Michael says.

"What are we going to tell Lawson?" Stella asks.

"Let me deal with Lawson okay, she will be fine, you will see." He says trying to hide his concern.

"If you're sure you can deal with Lawson, I'm going to the chapel." She says.

"Yeah, I will get you once we know what happened." He says giving her a kiss on the forehead before they head separate ways.

"Michael where's Stella?" Lawson asks as he sees Michael with a sombre look on his face.

"She is at the chapel, Lawson I need to tell you something, it's about Shannon." Michael says and Lawson sits there waiting for an explanation.

"There looks like there was a complication, we don't know what happened, we got kicked out but there were sirens going off from the equipment and the room went into chaos." Michael says and see's Lawson put his face in his hands.


	9. Chapter 9

"This is taking so long." Lawson said.

"She is going to be okay." Michael says as Stella walks up to them and takes a seat next to Michael and she asks "Is she okay?"

"We haven't heard anything yet." Lawson says.

"Oh, okay." Stella says resting her chin on top of her clasped hands and staring at the wall in front of her.

Nothing more was said for another half hour and that is when Shannon's doctor came out.

"Hello, well sorry about the fright, it was just her heart rate, it was rising because she was starting to wake up and as she was unaware of her condition she was a little bit worked up with having the oxygen mask on her face, we managed to get her to calm down was she had awoken properly and we just had to do some tests, so far it isn't too bad."

"So she is going to be okay then?" Lawson asks.

"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves here, she isn't completely out of the woods yet, the next 48 hours are still very crucial, she was experiencing a headache, normally we would expect one after having surgery on the brain, but it's not usually to the extent she has it at the moment, now we did do a scan but as there is still swelling around the brain we can't be 100% sure that there isn't anything that we haven't caught yet, so for the next 48 hours we will be keeping a very close eye on her until the swelling goes down so we can be certain, hopefully after some more sleep she will be feeling better."

"Can I go see her?" Lawson asks.

"Not at the moment, she is currently asleep again and I suggest you do the same thing as well, she won't want to see you so tired when you visit tomorrow, she will want to see you, she said she wants to see everyone, and said you would want to let Josh know she is okay and that she needs to talk to him about something, so go home and get some sleep." The doctor says.

"Thank you; please just keep me up to date if there are any other changes." Lawson says getting up.

"Yeah no worries, I will see you tomorrow." And she walked away back to the direction of Shannon's room.

"Alright guys, how about you get up now so we can get home and get some sleep." Lawson says to Stella and Michael.

"Yeah, okay let's get going, I will drive." Michael says taking in Stella's tired form.

"Yeah okay." She says leaning into his embrace and walking to her car.

"Thanks for dropping me home, you doing to get home alright Michael?" Lawson asks as they pull up outside his house.

"Yeah, I will just crash on the couch at Stella's." Michael says.

Giving Michael a curious glance he just nods his head and says "Uh huh, sure you will, well I will see you tomorrow, just shoot me a sms when you're about to leave to pick me up." Lawson says closing the door

"Yeah no worries Lawson, and do as the doctor says and try and get some sleep, for Shannon's sake at least, last thing she needs is to be worrying about you okay, if anything happens they will call you, have a good night's sleep Lawson and see you tomorrow." Michael says.

"Yeah, have a good night's sleep yourself." Lawson says walking towards his house.

Starting the car up again Michael yells out before driving off "Get to bed and sleep." And Lawson can't help but laugh.

Pulling up at Stella's house, Michael turns off the ignition and sits there for a minute taking in Stella's sleeping form.

"Hey wake up Stell." Michael says nudging her softly.

"Oh are we home already." She mumbles rubbing her eyes and stretching out in the seat.

"Yeah we are." Michael says softly.

"Lawson get home okay then." She says slowly getting out of the car.

"Yeah whether he actually goes to sleep is another thing though." Michael says standing behind her as she unlocks her door.

"I think he will, he won't worry Shannon, he may be an idiot at times but his not stupid, especially when it comes to Shannon." Stella says starting to wake up a bit.

"Yeah well I hope so." Michael says putting his keys, phone and wallet on her kitchen bench along with his bag.

"I wish I could get my hands on her dad though." Stella says angrily.

"Yeah and maybe you should calm down, Dom gave him a decent punch and he will cop it from the judge, don't worry he will be sorry." Michael says rubbing her shoulders.

"We should get to bed." Stella says giving him a kiss before dragging him to the bedroom and they start getting undressed into their bed clothes.

Lying down in the bed under the covers she says to Michael "Are you getting in?"

"Yeah, sorry I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you, especially that you are safe and sound, I don't want you to ever get hurt like that." Michael says getting into bed and pulling Stella into his body who rests her head onto his chest.

"You know nothing will happen to me right, and did Lawson get a hold of Josh?" Stella asks.

"No he left a message so Josh was probably asleep or doing something, it is late." Michael says inhaling her scent from her hair.

"Yeah I just hope it isn't anything stupid." Stella says.

"He will be fine, just try and get some sleep and we will deal with everything when we wake up." He says reassuringly.

"Yeah okay, I love you." She says.

"I love you too, now get some sleep and sleep well." Michael says slowly rubbing her back and making her drift off to sleep. Once she is asleep he pulls her in closer and closes his eyes and wills sleep to take over him.


	10. Chapter 10

Waking up to the sunlight streaming through Stella's window as they had forgotten to shut the blinds, Michael slowly stretched out in the bed and then turned onto his side and watched Stella sleep. It was his favourite way to wake up in the morning and he was so glad she had giving in to his feelings for her and agreed to give it a go with him.

Slowly stirring herself from the sunlight as well, she stretches out and smiles before opening her eyes and seeing Michael awake.

"Hey you." She says with a grin giving him a peck on the lips.

"Hey yourself, how did you sleep?" He hugs wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Not too bad, could do with a bit longer, how about yourself?" she asks.

"Yeah I slept okay, it would've been worse if I slept alone last night." He says.

"Oh really." She says raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah really, we should start getting organised, Lawson will probably be waiting already." He says sadly.

"Yeah, at least she woke up, I know it's still early but it's got to be a good sign." Stella says.

"Yeah, well the quicker we get moving, the quicker we get there, I'm going to shower and then call Lawson and you can jump in after me okay." Michael says grabbing his clothes and heading to the bathroom.

Getting out of bed, Stella decides to have an apple with a cup of coffee, not having much of an appetite. Having finished her coffee and apple, she heads to her room and finds something to wear as she has asked to have the day off from work she decides to just grab a pair of jeans with her black boots and a top with her jacket and cap.

"You ready to take a shower so I can call Lawson?" Michael says walking out of the bathroom with his wet hair.

"Yeah, I should only be about 10 minutes." Stella says before walking into the bathroom throwing Michael one last smile.

Receiving a call from Lawson, Michael answers it "Hey Lawson, are you ready to go?"

"I'm just ringing to let you know that I am already here, she is up for visitors, I spent a little bit of time with her when I realised I should let you know, I caught the cab here." Lawson says.

"Oh yeah, okay well we will be there in about 20 minutes give or take." Michael says.

"Well Shannon will love to see you; I will see you guys soon." Lawson says.

"See you soon." Michael says before hanging up.

"Hey we ready to go?" Stella asks as she walks out of the bathroom.

"Yeah we don't need to pick up Lawson he is already there, apparently Shannon is up for visitors and she would love to see us." Michael says as Stella grabs the car keys and Michael locks the house door as they leave.

Getting into the car, Stella starts the car and heads towards the hospital and they have a light conversation happening when Michael's phone rings.

"Hey Josh, did you get the message last night?" Michael asks.

"Yeah I got it, so she is awake?" Josh asks.

"Yep, Lawson is with her now, apparently she is up to visitors, we are heading there now, why didn't you answer your phone last night?" Michael asks.

"I was busy with something; I will be there in about half an hour, so I will see you there." Josh says.

"See you then." Michael says hanging up.

"Josh coming to the hospital then?" Stella asks looking over at him.

"Yeah he will be there in about half an hour." Michael says and Stella nods her head.

Pulling up at the hospital they both turn off their mobile phones before entering the hospital.

"Hey Kerry, Leon, have you already seen Shannon?" Stella asks.

"Yeah we have, Lawson is with her at the moment, she is pretty tired and still has a headache but you can go in and see her before you all have to head out to work." Kerry says.

"I have the day off, Michael can go in first with Christian and then Josh with Dom when they get here, I want some time alone with her, so you guys can go back to base for a bit so you don't get sick of being stuck here 24/7, I will stay here until their shifts are over." Stella says as Christian heads towards them.

"Hey Christian, you and Michael can go in and see her, Lawson will come back to base with us, Stella is staying here the day as she has the day off." Kerry says.

"Okay cool, I am so glad she is awake." Christian says before walking off with Michael following behind him.

"So how is she?" Stella asks Stella and Lawson.

"Like I said she is pretty tired and she still has a headache but otherwise she seems okay, but she is probably feeling worse then she is letting on." Kerry says.

"But she is still the same old Shannon, still making fun of me and laughing so that is a good thing I guess, but she really wants to see Josh followed by you Stell, now that she has seen Lawson she is a bit more relaxed, but she is worried how you and Josh coped with it all." Leon says.

"Of course so she is definitely her normal self, here she is in a hospital bed yet she is more concerned about everyone else." Stella says and they all nod in agreement smiling at the statement just as they see Lawson walking out.

"Hey Lawson, we are going back to base and Stella is staying here today." Kerry says.

"Yeah, Christian filled us in when they came into her room." He says with a slight smile.

"Well at least we caught a flash of a smile, come on let's get to base, the others shouldn't be too far behind." Kerry says

"See you later Stell." The three of them say as they leave.

"Smell ya later." Stella says trying to lighten up the atmosphere and the three of them shake their heads and keep walking.

Sitting there waiting for the boys, she sees Dom and Josh come in.

"Hey guys, she should be ready to see you, just kick the two losers in her room out, I will be in there after you." She says.

"Thanks Stell." Dom says as Josh gives her a slight nod before they head towards the room.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Okay firstly I must apologise for my lack of updating, life has been so crazily busy and I just could not find the motivation to start typing.**_

_**Secondly this is going to jump ahead a little bit to Shannon being released from hospital, the conversations that occurred between Shannon with Lawson, Josh and Stella will happen over the next few chapters as little snippets.**_

….

"You ready to go home yet?" Lawson asks walking into her hospital room relieved it would be the last time he would have to enter this room again.

"Yeah, I got my stuffed packed and I am ready to go, papers have already been signed." Shannon said slowly standing up and going to pick up her bag.

"I got it." Lawson says grabbing the bag instead and linking his hand through her's, giving her a light kiss on the head before leading her out of the hospital.

Breathing a sigh of relief when they have stepped outside the hospital, Shannon smiles at the fact she is finally free from being stuck in the hospital, to her she felt like she had been in there three weeks too long.

Opening the passenger side door, Lawson ensures that Shannon can get inside without his help before he places her bag in the back and hopping into the driver's seat.

As he drove off, Shannon asked the question she had been trying to figure out the answer to all day.

"Lawson, how are the team working today being two team members down and without negotiators?"

"Kerry wants them to do some navigational course to ensure they know what they need to do in certain situations, her and Josh have plotted a course for them to go through in the bush." Lawson says with a smile.

"Oh that sounds like fun." Shannon says sounding genuinely disappointed.

"Don't worry, I am sure when your fully recovered she will put you through some form of a course, she wants them to learn to not always rely on their superiors to make the judgement calls, to learn to use some initiative, but Dom will be with them just in case something serious does happen, especially if they have to end up camping out there for the night." He says.

"Actually, staying at home putting my feet up sounds like a good idea." She says as they pull up to his house and he helps her out of the car.

…...

Having settled into the place she has now decided to call home, Shannon sits on the couch with her feet up thinking what led them to being here, together, while Lawson organised some dinner.

**Opening up her eyes at the sound of the door opening and closing, she sees Lawson standing there looking relieved when he realised she was staring back at him. Deciding they needed to talk, and to reassure him that she was okay, she holds out her hand for him to take. Walking over slowly he takes her hand gently in his and he sits down next to her.**

"_Thank god you're okay, you had us all really worried Shan, and you had me really worried." Lawson says._

"_I know, and I am really sorry." She started apologising noting how worn out he appeared and her concern for his wellbeing increased worried about the toll all of this had taken on him._

"_Don't apologise Shan, it wasn't in your control." He said squeezing her hand gently._

"_I'm not apologising for that, I am apologising for not recognising your feelings for me were more than just as a friend." Shannon said._

"_What do you mean?" he asks curious as to how she knew._

"_You know what I mean." She says looking at him with knowing eyes._

"_I don't really know what you are talking about." He whispers as a nurse looks over at him while she checks Shannon's vitals._

_Once the nurse had left out of earshot, Shannon says "I heard you telling me you loved me."_

"_You heard that?" he asks shocked._

"_That and little snippets here and there, some of it is a bit of a blur, but I recall Josh telling you I could probably hear you, and how you said that you and Josh wouldn't cope if you lost me, I am so sorry, if I had known how you felt about me I could have sorted that out for you." She says starting to fight the darkness that was threatening to come and take over her as she fought the drowsiness she was feeling._

"_And how is that?" Lawson asks._

"_I would have told you I had the same feelings for you too." She says with a slight smile as her eyelids slowly begin to droop._

"_Oh yeah and how is that?" he asked with a big grin appearing on his face._

"_I love you." She says softly letting her eyes close knowing she was losing the fight._

"_I love you too." Lawson whispers in her ear and gives her a soft kiss on the lips as she surrenders herself to the blackness._

…_..._

Walking into the living room with dinner in his hands, Lawson sees Shannon looking relaxed with a big smile on her face.

Walking up to her he hands her, her dinner before lifting up her legs so he can sit down next to her with her legs hanging over his.

"What are you smiling at?" He asks while eating his dinner.

"Just thinking back to the hospital and the first conversation we had." She says.

"About how you were eavesdropping in on our conversations?" he jokes.

"I was not eavesdropping, you shouldn't have a discussion near a sleeping, injured person." She says with a smile.

"Well I am glad you did eavesdrop." Lawson says leaning over and giving her a slow, passionate kiss before pulling away.

"I'm glad too." She says with a smirk before focusing back on her dinner.


	12. Chapter 12

After finishing her shower in the morning, Shannon got dressed and slowly walked out into the kitchen to where Lawson placed a cup of coffee and a couple of slices of toast on the table for her to consume. Taking her seat next to him she squeezes his hand gratefully before taking a bite out of her toast.

Sitting there drinking his second cup of coffee having already had breakfast, he looks at her with concern and sits there trying to work out whether or not he should voice his concern.

Reading his mind after having noticed the look on her voice, Shannon has the last bit of her toast and a sip of her coffee before she asks "You worried about me going into base today aren't you?"

Smiling at the fact that she knows him so well, he says "Yeah, I just don't want you to overdo it, you just got released from hospital yesterday, and we could have lost you, I just would rather you stay home today."

"Well Kerry said she was going to help me start packing things at home during her lunch break, just so we can make it easier to move in to here when I am ready." Shannon says.

"I don't think that is such a good idea." He says.

"Don't worry Lawson, all I will do today is watch you guys out on the road with Leon, no doubt Leon will show me some funny stuff on his computer, have some lunch, then Kerry will do most of the packing while I supervise and do the light stuff, and then back at base to wait for you guys to get back, depending how tired and sore I am feeling maybe we can go to the pub with the others and have dinner with them." Shannon says giving him a kiss before getting up to do her dishes.

"You just be bloody careful today, okay." Lawson says.

"Promise Lawson, now let's get going." She says eager to see everybody.

…...

Walking into the change rooms and finding it empty, Shannon feels slightly disappointed that they aren't all here and wonders where they are. Deciding to distract herself, Shannon watches Lawson start getting dressed and she sits there and silently appreciates the view.

Noticing Shannon watching him closely he silently chuckles to himself and gears up before he sits down next to her to put his boots on. Turning his head sideways, he says with a smirk "I hope you liked what you saw."

"Definitely, I wouldn't be with you otherwise." She says jokingly.

Standing up and walking towards the Intel office Lawson and Shannon muck around on their way and Shannon is shocked when everyone yells out "Welcome back Shan."

Smiling Shannon walks around hugging everyone and briefly talking to the new girl Audrey before she reached Stella.

"Hey Shan, it's so good to see you out of the hospital." Stella says hugging her gently.

"It's good to see you back at TR Stell." Shannon says as Stella pulls away to look at Shannon to take in her appearance.

Thinking back to when Shannon was in hospital, Stella remembers the conversation that first took place.

_**Walking into the room, Stella lets out an audible gasp as she sees Shannon's appearance.**_

"_**Hey Stell, sorry I am a bit worse for wear, come and sit, I promise I won't bite." She said while slightly laughing.**_

_**Taking a seat next to Shannon, she takes her hand in hers before she starts to cry.**_

"_**Hey, hey, I am okay Stella, there is no need to cry, sure I look like I had my face crushed to a pulp, but I am fine, the doctors said that I am going to be okay." Shannon said rubbing soothing circles on the back of Stella's hand.**_

"_**I am so glad you are okay, when I got the call while at work I was so worried; don't do that to me Shan, I couldn't take it if I lost you." Stella says.**_

"_**Hey now no one is losing anyone, okay, I can't promise I am going to be around forever but I am still here and that is the main thing, if I do go one day, you will be okay, you will have everyone for support and them for support, but I need you to keep an eye on Lawson while I recover, especially while I am in here, he bottles things up and worries about others and puts himself last, he looks worn down, but most importantly, life is too short, you need to sort out the Michael issue once and for all." Shannon said closing her eyes.**_

"_**Are you in pain?" Stella asks.**_

"_**Nah not really, just tired, can you promise me you will sort things out with Michael." Shannon says.**_

"_**Well about that, we kind of already did last night, we are a couple now, sorry we did it while you were still in a critical condition." Stella says sincerely.**_

"_**Don't apologise for learning something from this, one more thing." Shannon says.**_

"_**What's that?" Stella asked.**_

"_**You need to go back to Tactical Response, Lawson may take some time to convince, but don't rest until he lets you in, keep pushing him, it would be such a waste of your skills and hard work if you stayed in General Duties, your way better than that, and any way I am going to be out of action for a while and they can't run one down for all that time, I need my best friend back on the team." Shannon says tiredly.**_

"_**I don't think I can Shannon, the shooting, it still affects me." Stella says.**_

"_**Talk to me about it then so we can get you back into TR quicker." Shannon says.**_

"_**I still have nightmares…" Stella begins with.**_

…_**...**_

Stella was so grateful for having Shannon as her best friend and she was happy that her friend was now in a relationship with Lawson.

Looking at the two of them with Shannon sitting on Lawson's lap with his arms wrapped securely around her waist and her hands on top of his with Josh and the others laughing at something one of them had said, Stella was glad she had her family back and everyone was safe and sound.


	13. Chapter 13

Walking to the TR cars, Lawson stops them all to ask them something. Checking over his shoulder to ensure Shannon had indeed stayed in the office, he asks "Can I ask you guys for a favour please?"

"Yeah sure Lawson, what is it?" Dom asks.

"Well I know it is short notice, but because we all have the day off tomorrow, do you guys think you could help me pack up Shannon's stuff, move it all and unpack it, I want to surprise her because her and Kerry are apparently going to do a little bit of packing anyway, I don't want her worrying over stuff like that right now." Lawson says.

"Sure mate, but how are you going to surprise her exactly if she is either going to be home or with you?" Josh asks.

"Well I was hoping Stella could take her out for the day." Lawson asks looking at her.

"Sure no worries Lawson." Stella says.

"Alright well let's get out on the road and I will send you the details later with a sms." Lawson says and they split up into their cars.

…

Sitting in the back seat of TR 1 while Christian was driving and Stella chatting away with him, Lawson stared out through the window thinking about the conversation that took place between him and Stella when he went back later to see Shannon at the hospital.

"_**Hey Lawson how was work today?" Stella asks leading him away from Shannon's room as she was asleep at the time.**_

"_**Ah you know it was just another average day, how has she been today?" he asked.**_

"_**She has been like her normal self, worrying about everyone else part from herself had some conversations, one was about you, and the other was about the shooting." She said going to the cafeteria to get a coffee.**_

"_**What was she talking about in regards to me?" Lawson asked.**_

"_**Well she is worried about you, she doesn't want you to blame yourself, she is also worried about how it is taking its toll on you, she wants you to get enough sleep and make sure that you eat and stuff so I have been delegated the task of keeping an eye on you while she is in here, don't try and talk her out of me keeping an eye on you, you know she is stubborn, just reassure her that you are okay and I will do the rest, just know that if you need any help with anything at all you just give me a yell." She said.**_

"_**Okay, what about the shooting?" he asked curiously.**_

"_**Well I rather not go into details about that, that is between me and Shan, but we talked about everything to do with the shooting and afterwards, she wants me to come back to TR and I want to come back to, general duties is not for me, I am feeling a lot better, and I won't give up until you let me back onto the team." Stella said sounding determined.**_

"_**Well I will make you a deal, you see a counsellor at least once a week and you will stay in the car with me until I can be assured that you are definitely back to your normal self and that you won't put the team's safety at jeopardy, I know we can't run a man down for the duration Shannon will be out, and I don't want to find someone to fill it temporarily, so if you agree to my conditions I will let you back on." He said.**_

"_**Yeah that sounds perfect to me, thanks heaps Lawson, when can I start?" Stella asked.**_

"_**As soon as you get it approved with Preston you can come back, don't make me regret it" Lawson says.**_

"_**I won't, tell Shannon I will see her tomorrow morning yeah, and don't forget if you ever need anything or someone to talk to just let me know." Stella says before walking out.**_

Remembering that conversation, he couldn't help but think how much she had really pulled through for him and Shannon, if it wasn't for Stella; Shannon would have gone stir crazy at the hospital.

Bringing him out of his thoughts was Leon's voice coming through over their radio.

"Hey guys there is an armed hold up at the Preston TAB, how long till you get there?" Leon asked.

"Around 10 to 15 minutes, depending on Christians driving skills." Lawson said with a smirk.

"Oh it is so on, like donkey Kong." Christian says flicking the switches and speeding down the busy streets of Melbourne.

"Go Christian, go." Stella cheers from the backseat while giggling remembering back to the days when they used to call Michael monkey boy and telling him to drive.

…

Sitting in the Intel office, Shannon watches on through the images coming through their lapel cameras, getting more and more anxious as she watched it all unfold. Noting how tense Shannon was looking, Leon turns around and says "It's different when you're sitting behind this desk and seeing it all unfold, you don't realise how dangerous it is until you actually see the footage isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's making me nervous." Shannon says.

"Don't worry, nine times out of ten it all turns out good, don't worry, Kerry and I have been doing this for years and we are still uneasy until the situation is under control, why do you think Kerry gets so frustrated sometimes when you guys don't do as she tells you." Leon says.

"I don't know if I can watch this." Shannon says as Lawson comes face to face with the offender.

"Lawson and the team know what they are doing, Josh is there, he will have his back, they all will." Leon says with an encouraging smile.

A little while later they finally have the guy in cuffs and hand him over to General Duties.

"Don't worry, you can breathe easy now, they are all safe." Leon says chuckling at the relief shown on Shannon's face.

"Hey Shannon, you want to go to your place now?" Kerry asks noticing how stressed out that one situation had made her.

"Yeah, I think that would be good." Shannon says getting up and following Kerry out of base.

"Hey Leon is Shannon there?" Lawson asks over coms.

"Nah, Kerry just took her to Shannon's house to help her pack, Shannon got a bit stressed out watching the images coming through from the hold up." Leon says.

"Is she okay now though?" Lawson asks as the others listen in intently.

"Yeah, she seemed to be breathing properly once the situation was diffused." Leon says.

"Well can I get a number for a moving truck company, I will fill you in later, keep this to yourself though." Lawson says.

"Shall do Lawson, sending that number to you now." Leon says.


End file.
